Even after the Patriots declined to pick up his 2015 option, there was still a while there that it seemed like New England would find a way to bring him back for a second season. But no, after two seasons away, Darrelle Revis is returning to the Jets in 2015, he agent announced on Tuesday evening.

The Jets obviously still have a host of issues – they are the Jets, after all – especially that big glaring one at quarterback, though it’s hard to argue that they didn’t make a good deal of progress through free agency and trade. The secondary is greatly bolstered with the signing of Revis and Buster Skrine. They got Brandon Marshall for practically nothing.

The new deal for five years, $70 million overall with $39 million guaranteed. Not only is Revis one of the game’s best but he’s managed to keep getting teams to open their pocket books when he changes teams. If he reaches the end of the deal (probably not since he’s about to turn 30) he’ll have made more than $150 million in the NFL. Even if he only gets the guaranteed money, he’s clearing $100 million.

Once the Patriots re-signed safety Devin McCourty to a five-year, $47.5 million contract over the weekend, it was widely presumed that New England wouldn’t be able to also retain the services of Darrelle Revis. Perhaps with enough cap management, the Patriots could have kept Revis while paying him $20 million in 2015, but it looks as though they don’t want to bother. Ian Rapoport says the two sides will continue to negotiate even after Revis goes on the market, though it’s hard to imagine that the Patriots will be willing to meet the price Revis is likely to draw in free agency.

Patriots not picking up $20 million option in Darrelle Revis' contract; now set to become free agent Tuesday.

All in all, not a bad season in New England for Revis. He wins a Super Bowl and now gets to cash in again. The Jets have been reported to be the team most aggressively pursuing Revis, mostly so he can gather the team around and let them know what it was like to play for a championship team.

After one of the most exciting finishes of the year, the AFC Championship nearly got off to a one-sided start that was only saved by a Tom Brady red zone interception.

After a few mostly uneventful possessions, a punt went off Josh Cribbs facemask, giving the Patriots a short field they turned into a touchdown. Blount ran it in twice, the first time being overturned on review and the second one, well, not.

The Colts had a decent response of their next drive but it ended with Patriots double agent Adam Vinatieri missing from 51 yards.

The Patriots went go for the kill and scored again, this time with a one-yard pass to James Develin. That’s right, an Ivy League educated white fullback touchdowns? Patriots fans probably don’t even care about winning now that they got to see that.

New England nearly ran away with the game. Only a D’Qwell Jackson interception of Tom Brady in the red zone saved the Colts from possibly going down 21-0. An outstanding pinpoint 37-yard bomb to T.Y. Hilton got the Colts into field goal range. A Coby Fleener catch and run that at first looked like it might have resulted in a fumble was ruled down at the 1. From there, Zurlon Tipton, who may or may not be a Buzz Lightyear nemesis, took it into the end zone to make it 14-7.

Then the officiating went to total shit on the Patriots final drive of the half. There was a ridiculous roughing penalty on a hit on Tom Brady. Vontae Davis got away with pass interference. Both times the CBS broadcast was quick to defend the refs. Ultimately, the Pats came away with a field goal to take a 10-point lead at half.

When the Patriots beat the Colts back in November, it was the Jonas Gray game, when the previously unknown running back went for 201 yards and four touchdowns. Gray, of course, missed a practice the following week and only ran for 80 yards the last six weeks of the season.

It was pretty thorough domination by the Patriots in Week 11, but apparently Andrew Luck wins every time when playing a team twice in one season.

Andrew Luck is 12-0 when facing a team again in the same season. Won all 9 divisional games the 2nd time and playoff games vs. KC, CIN, DEN.

I’m sure Bill Belichick’s record against teams he’s faced more than once in a season is pretty good overall, though the last two New England playoff defeats came against teams they had already played in the regular season.

In that November game, Trent Richardson had a robust six carries for zero yards. In fact, Andrew Luck was the Colts leading rusher that day with 15 yards on three rushes. So it wasn’t a great game for anyone carrying the ball for Indy. Clearly, New England controlled the trenches that day. That center Bryan Stork has been ruled out should at least help the defense.

Boom Herron has brought a little more life to the Colts ground game, even if he also brings the constant danger of fumbling. Trent Richardson, meanwhile, is inactive for the second straight week because he’s dealing with a family situation. So unless the Colts advance, the one snap Richardson saw against the Bengals will be the extent of his contribution to Indy’s playoff run. Sounds about right.

Just when it seemed like the Patriots were going to erase an ugly early start, Baltimore got a key late turnover to ensure they still have the lead at halftime.

The Ravens made it look easy on a five-play, 71-yard opening drive that ended with a 19-yard Kamar Aiken touchdown. The Patriots first possession was snuffed early when a Danny Amendola catch on third down was overturned on review. Baltimore took a quick 14-0 lead thanks to a Steve Smith touchdown catch. Bill Belichick’s defense was giving up 9.3 yards per play through two drives. They made some adjustments, but it was a hard start to rebound from.

Finally, the Patriots offense came alive thanks to a 46-yard Gronk reception in which he almost got fully de-pantsed. After Julian Edelman droped a pass in the end zone on second down, the seldom seen Tom Brady touchdown run on a non-QB sneak from four yards out got New England on the board. I was just shocked to discover that was not the longest postseason touchdown run by Brady.

The first half was marked by the Ravens defense getting hits on Brady. Naturally, Dreamboat did not approve, and expressed his displeasure being screaming and mashing his facemask in the face of a referee. This might get other players penalized, but not Brady.

NBC

Edelman fumbled with about seven minutes left in the half in Patriots territory, but he somehow recovered it when three Ravens defenders had a better chance. That might have been a killer turnover for the Patriots. With another chance, the Pats tied the game when Amendola broke a tackle on a reception in the flat then took it 15 yards for a game-tying score.

Baltimore was stuffed on a bizarre end-around on a 3rd and 1, giving the Patriots the ball back with two minutes left. The way the second quarter was going, it seemed like New England would take their first lead going into the half, but Brady was intercepted by Daryl Smith and it was Baltimore that ended the second quarter with a touchdown pass to take a 21-14 lead. And so Brady was doing this:

With that, Joe Flacco called for his love. “Hey darling, come here a minute, would ya?” he said in a flat tone filled with lust.

She swept into the room, as if beckoned by Eros itself. “What is it, Joe? What’s going on?”

“Sex,” he said. “Sex is what is going on.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yup.”

“Okay. Just let me run to the bathroom quick first.”

Joe Flacco sat down on the bed with desire in his mind and fire in his loins as his lady did a quick tinkle. When at last she returned, Joe was ready. He had risen to the occasion, as though this were a road playoff game, and would stand erect in the pocket. He gave his wife a look and she knew instantly it was on.

It takes the Patriots not even a minute and a half to get the game’s opening touchdown. The Jets exhibit poor tackling on a first down catch and run by Brandon LaFell. They top it in coverage by failing to cover Shane Vereen deep, who gets a wide open 49-yard touchdown. Vereen did Stevan Ridley’s touchdown celebration in a tribute to his injured teammate.

The Jets actually responded with a scoring drive. As easy as the Pats made it look to get points, New York made every first down seem like an epic struggle. They had Michael Vick in at slot receiver as a decoy one play. A nice Chris Ivory run on a 3rd and 1 gets them in field goal range. Once inside the red zone, Geno Smith appeared to hit Jeremy Kerley on a touchdown but the play was negated by a holding call so obvious that players started going half speed halfway through the play. New York ends up settling for a field goal.

New York began showing shocking competence. They got a stop on defense then another respectable drive on offense. A 24-yard completion to Eric Decker helps set up a 47-yard Nick Folk field goal.

After another quick stop, the Jets added a 46-yard field to – gasp! – take the lead 9-7 midway through the second quarter. Only seven more field goals until the game is over! The New England run defense looks to be suffering from the loss of Jerod Mayo as the Jets surpassed 100 yards rushing just before half.

Unfortunately, the Patriots offense woke back up and charged down the field in a 10-play, 80-yard drive that resulted in a second Shane Vereen touchdown reception to give the Pats a 14-9 lead.

Thanks to a long kick return, New York has another scoring opportunity and what do you know, they settled for another field goal. I mean, bets the usual turnovers, but putting them in for long-term disappointment if this keeps up.

The Pats used a timeout at the end of the Jets last field goal drive to give them a minute to work with. They used it to get back into the red zone. A scuffle erupted when the Jets pushed Brady to the ground just after he released the ball then one of the New England lineman retaliated, drawing a personal foul penalty. The Pats tried out the field goal thing themselves to make it 17-12 at half.

If the prospect of being blown out by their rivals in a nationally televised game isn’t crushing enough, the New York Daily News today has a report indicating that one Jets scout was really high on Tom Brady late in the 2000 Draft and demanded that then-general manager Bill Parcells select Dreamboat with the Jets pick in the sixth round, 20 picks before the Patriots took him, even though the team had already taken Chad Pennington, noodle-armed subject of much Namath-Kolber discussion, in the first round of that draft. Of course, one scout having a dissenting opinion doesn’t mean the team was actually close to taking Brady, but whatever helps the Daily News sell papers. Either way, the Jets probably would found a way to mess it up even had they taken Brady.

It’s the first time Darrelle Revis gets to take on the Jets as a member of the Patriots. He already played against them as a member of the Buccaneers, but nobody cared about his time in Tampa, so this will be the real return game. Revis teased the idea of lining up at receiver this week against the Jets and having him score an offensive touchdown against his old team would be sufficiently spiteful for Bill Belichick to try it.

At this point, few believe Rex Ryan can save salvage this season and keep his job. While he was certainly dealt a poor hand, it can’t be said that none of the problems with this team are on him. It’d be nice to see the Jets under Rex pull one last upset over the Patriots in Foxboro, however unlikely that may be.

Credit where it’s due: the Patriots landed Darrelle Revis, a top corner they absolutely had to have after losing Aqib Talib to the Broncos. Revis’ contract with New England is reportedly a one-year deal worth $12 million, which is less than what the Pats would have had to pay Revis had they pulled a trade with Tampa before Revis was released. And this way, New England didn’t have to surrender any draft picks on top of it.

While Revis might have been overshadowed by Richard Sherman in public perception as the best cornerback in the game in 2013, according to some metrics, Revis was still right among the best in the game, despite being relegated by Tampa’s coaching staff to zone coverage, which is away from his strength as a pure cover guy.

While we all will suffer as a result of this, as usual Jets fans will suffer the most, having to see their former star don the uniform of their sworn enemy. If it’s any consolation, it appears that the worst Revis can do to the Jets is take away James Jones, if the Jets can manage to sign him Eric Decker, who the Jets signed late Wednesday night. Actually pretty clever to make Revis have to cover a white receiver when the Pats play the Jets to take all the fun out of it for Boston fans.

11 months ago, the Buccaneers acquired Darrelle Revis in a trade with the Jets in which Tampa gave up the 13th pick in the 2013 draft and potentially a fourth- or third-rounder in 2014. After one season of Revis being misused by Greg Schiano and defensive coordinator Bill Sheridan in zone coverage, the new regime in Tampa is already prepared to cut Revis loose, mostly to jettison his $16 million salary and prevent the second draft pick owed to the Jets from being upgraded from a fourth to a third-round pick.

When the Schiano Men ruled in Tampa, the Bucs were a willing pipeline of talent to Schiano’s hero, Bill Belichick. That won’t be the case if the Revis deal goes down, as it will be the call of Lovie Smith, who so far as we know has managed not to fall victim to Grumblelord’s Dr. Mindbender powers. It will, however, allow the Patriots to replace their best cornerback, who they happened to get at a discount price from Tampa, with an even better one, who they also would have gotten at a discount rate from Tampa. Right now, the Patriots’ cap situation makes acquiring Revis at his present salary a somewhat risky proposition, though who knows, New England will probably find a way to hoodwink the Buccaneers into covering a portion of his 2014 salary just so they can make it work. BECAUSE OF COURSE THEY WILL!

Yes, it’s certainly possible that the Patriots could still land Revis if the Buccaneers release him outright on Wednesday, as the team is expected to do if a trade partner can’t be found, and at a lower price tag. Though I remain confident that if Revis does hit the open market another spendthrift team such as the Raiders or Redskins will find a way to outbid them. IT’S THE ONLY HOPE WE HAVE!